Many of you who submitted an H1B Registration during the H1B Visa Fiscal Year(FY) 2025 and were not picked in the first two rounds of the H1B lottery were hoping for a third-round lottery. Well, there is no hope now, as USCIS announced yesterday that they reached the H1B Cap for the FY 2025 season and would no longer run another round of H1B Lottery for the FY 2025 Season.
This article will discuss the summary of the press release from USCIS, total H1B selections for the H1B FY 2025 season from the first two rounds, a comparison of it from the past with trends, and what to expect next for those who were not selected.
USCIS News: H1B Cap for Fiscal Year 2025 Reached
Below is the summary of the USCIS press release on the H1B FY 2025 season:
H1B FY 2025 Cap Reached
- USCIS said that they have received enough number of H1B petitions to meet the H1B Cap of 85,000 for both regular and master’s quota caps.
- In the second-round H1B lottery announcement for FY 2025, they mentioned that they had reached the US Masters cap in the first round itself and only had a regular cap that was still open.
- The H1B registrations selected in the second round of the H1B lottery resulted in enough petitions submitted to USCIS to meet the FY 2025 H1B cap.
Not Selected Notices to be sent by USCIS
- USCIS said that they will send the “not selected notices” to the H1B registrants who were not selected in the H1B Lottery conducted for FY 2025 season.
- In the next few days, they say that the online status of the H1B registration in the H1B Online Registration System would show up as “Not Selected”.
- The meaning of the status “Not Selected” means that the applicant’s registration was not selected and not eligible to file a H1B cap petition based on their registration.
USCIS will continue to accept Cap Exempt H1B Petitions
- USCIS said they would continue to accept H1B petitions exempt from the annual H1B cap. These applicants were counted towards the H1B cap in the past(picked in lottery and filed H1B petition) and retained their cap number.
- Below are the H1B Cap-exempt petitions that USCIS would continue to accept
- H1B Extensions – Extend their H1B beyond 3 years
- H1B Amendments – If any changes to their employment
- Change of Employers – If the H1B holder is changing employers
- Concurrent H1Bs – Filing a Concurrent H1B for an additional H1B job.
- While they did not explicitly mention it in the press release, they continue to accept H1B cap-exempt petitions from Higher Educational institutions and non-profit research organizations, including government-related research organizations. Check H1B Cap-exempt Employers List
Total Selections in H1B FY 2025 Season, Historical Trends Comparison
USCIS Selected the below number of registrations in the first two rounds of the H1B Lottery for the FY 2025 season
- First Round Lottery: A total of 120,603 H1B Registrations were selected
- Second Round Lottery: A total of 14,534 H1B Registrations were selected
- Total Selections: USCIS selected 135,137 ( 120,603+14,534) H1B Registrations for FY 2025 season.
Historical Trend of H1B Registrations in the last 5 years
Below are the total H1B Lottery selections in the last 5 years summarized in a table:
| H1B Fiscal Year | Total H1B Registrations Submitted | Total Eligible H1B Registrations* | Total H1B Selections in Lottery Process (one or more rounds) |
| 2021 | 274,237 | 269,424 | 124,415 |
| 2022 | 308,613 | 301,447 | 131,924 |
| 2023 | 483,927 | 474,421 | 127,600 |
| 2024 | 780,884 | 758,994 | 188,400 |
| 2025 | 479,953 | 470,342 | 135,137 |
* In the above table, eligible registrations are the ones that is after the exclusion of the duplicate registrations, registrations with failed payments, and also that were deleted by the employers before the close of the registration period.
If we plot the above in a graph, it looks like below.
The key reason for the drop in H1B registrations during the FY 2025 season can be attributed to the single rule change that USCIS did for lottery selection. As per the new rule, USCIS would select registrations based on a unique beneficiary-centric approach.
In this new lottery process, they would use the unique passport number of the applicant to select H1B registrations. This way, they eliminated the incentive for applicants to commit fraud and submit more than one H1B registration to increase their chances in the H1B Lottery. You can read more at New H1B Lottery Selection Process from FY 2025
What to expect or do, if you were not selected in H1B FY 2025 Lottery?
If you were not selected in the H1B FY Lottery, the first thing is that USCIS would update the status of your H1B registration as “Not Selected” in the online system and you would be able to get the non-selection notice from the online system. You can ask your employer to check the online system and let them share with you the non-selection notice.
Now, if you were not selected and are still planning to pursue your dreams of working in the US on an H1B visa, you must speak to your employer and ask them to submit an H1B registration in the upcoming H1B season. We have put together a comprehensive guide for the next H1B season; you can read H1B Visa 2026 – Timelines, Dates, Lottery, News
What has been your experience with the H1B FY 2025 season? Do you think the Trump Administration will Change the H1B Lottery process? Share your thoughts in the comments section below
Trump is seriously considering to send those frauds from the 2 Telugu states back to India 🤣
My 1st H1b case (masters ) currently on stem OPT is still in review last update 187 days age. No idea why it’s still in review.
Do anyone know how this work.
Sv,
It will get updated to Not Selected soon. It does not happen immediately, it can take few days. Just wait for it to update.
Thank you. So it’s like confirming not selected.
Sv, yes!